Tribune. Tuesday, January 21, the Brazilian prosecution charged Glenn Greenwald, a journalist awarded the Pulitzer Prize, founder of the site The Intercept Brasil, for his explosive investigations into corruption at the highest levels of the Brazilian government.
Glenn Greenwald made resounding revelations. Among other things, he revealed that a renowned judge, Sergio Moro, had rigged a trial to send behind bars the most popular political figure in the country. [former president Lula da Silva], paving the way for the victory of Jair Bolsonaro – who hastened to reward him by offering him the Ministry of Justice and Public Security.
In this context, it is not surprising that a significant proportion of the Brazilian political world – and even some figures generally aligned with the ignoble Bolsonaro regime – chose to stand on the side of organizations defending the freedom of press and denounce the act of political repression constituted by the absurd accusations of "cybercrime" which loom over Mr. Greenwald.
However absurd these accusations are, they are no less dangerous – and not only for Greenwald: they threaten press freedom around the world.
According to the Brazilian prosecution, journalists who publish leaked documents and the people who provided them with these documents are the perpetrators of a criminal "conspiracy". This argument is virtually identical to that advanced by the Trump administration to prosecute WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in a new and highly ambiguous new law enforcement called the Espionage Act.
"A clear act of censorship"
In both cases, with their accusations, the authorities are reversing their previous positions. In fact, in December 2019, the Brazilian police declared that they had examined Mr. Greenwald's case to determine whether it could be considered that he had participated in a crime: they then unequivocally concluded that it was not not the case.
This rather extraordinary statement followed the order, issued in August 2019 by a judge of the Supreme Court – in the face of public attacks by Mr. Bolsonaro and his allies against the journalist -, explicitly prohibiting the police from investigate Mr. Greenwald. The judge had pointed out that an investigation would constitute "A clear act of censorship".
